How good is an Xbox Kinect Sensor for VR?

Surprisingly, it works really well... after some tinkering of course.
Hello everyone, I'm back after another 8 months (now 10 months) of not posting to bring you one of my most ambitious videos to make so far, and It all started with $20 (Thanks Byron!).
Lets get into the credits:
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All music from the in KZbin Audio Library
Most sounds from the KZbin Audio Library (Seriously KZbin? You guys have the sound of a toilet lid closing quietly, but not the sound of a doorbell)
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Kinect for Windows SDK: learn.microsof...
K2VR (Amethyst): k2vr.tech/
Hyperkin Xbox One Kinect Adapter: a.co/d/8PkVHxl
Video Clip at 0:20: • Kinect for Xbox 360 - ...
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Thank you all for watching, this video wouldn't be possible without you.

[@TheGoIdCat]

If you have any questions feel free to ask them! I will try to help out as much as I can.

[@worldwrestlingstuff5122]

Fix my tendon rupture

[@TheGoIdCat]

Ouch

[@7xyn]

what specs are your computer

[@TheGoIdCat]

@@7xyn Here are my main specs: Core i7 12700k 16gb DDR4-3200 CL16 Nvidia RTX 3060ti 8gb

[@7xyn]

@@TheGoIdCat thanks i was curious

[@LifeBeLifeingPodCast]

I’m in the process of connecting 8 Xbox kinects and programming them to all work together to allow your real combat movement to work in my vr game so what ever you can do in real life it will be put in the game at real time

[@TheGoIdCat]

That's so neat! Please update me on how that goes.

[@Matthew_MBG]

sounds expensive

[@drake9097]

360 is better than Xbox 1 camera

[@urbnctrl]

@@drake9097 you claim these things with no proof, One blows 360 out of the water - especially in dual mode.

[@drake9097]

​@@urbnctrl The Xbox One Kinect uses a time-of-flight sensor to capture depth data. This means that a beam of infrared light is flashed for every pixel of the depth camera and a photo-sensor receives the light bounce and calculates the time it took for the light to travel back and forth and uses this to calculate depth. This becomes an issue for devices that use base station tracking like HTC Vive, Vive Pro, Pimax, Valve Index, their controllers, and Vive trackers. Unless you have a single base station that's pointing the same way the Kinect is, the tracking on your devices will get confused by the infrared light coming from the Kinect's time-of-flight system.

[@13attlePug]

This guy really deserves more subs, the amount of effort alone put into the editing on this video is outstanding. Earned a sub from me.

[@TheGoIdCat]

Aww thank you!

[@warfu_]

Update: A year ago I was deciding whether to go through this, or not, with my Kinect(wrote another comment) and I did. K2VR evolved, seems like the new one (Amethyst) improved the tracking because it ended up being really good, it's effective enough for a newbie like me with VR Chat! Even though its still the least recommended camera for it (for 360 Kinect), can say it was worth it. It decalibrates often, like yours, but still great! Thanks for the video again!

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you for giving a little update, that's great! I might have to check it out again.

[@WurstPeterl]

I was genuinely surprised to see the low subscriber count after watching this video. The production quality made me think it was from a much larger channel.

[@TheGoIdCat]

Aww Thank you!

[@warfu_]

Great editing!!! Sounds like a really simple summary of your experience but comes to a conclusion fast enough, best one to watch :3 I was wondering about this for days because I practically stopped using the Kinect on my Xbox since its games are no longer of interest to me, so now that I have it, I'll keep thinking if I go through the same stuff you did. Thanks!

[@TheGoIdCat]

Aw thank you! Glad that you can get some more use out of your Kinect!

[@rocketdog5310]

Bro this was so professionally made and a good video only 103 subs? well... 104 now lol

[@rocketdog5310]

I'd suggest making a youtube short for it with the main clips, and it would hopefully reach more people... just a suggestion

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you!

[@TheGoIdCat]

I like that idea, I might try it out

[@mothmons2118]

Let's make it 105

[@golden2765]

I'm thinking of buying a Kinect myself, I've thought of wearing contrasting colors to help the Kinect see better. Maybe try that too help it track better!

[@TheGoIdCat]

That's a good idea! Might have to try that

[@TheSmileysCrew]

Funny enough, I wanted to do this exact thing, cause cash and my brother had headsets, but I didn’t want to blow several hundred dollars on one. I saw a video where There was some Russian guy who was working on the wayyyyyy less polished version of this. Either way, good on you for actually putting in the work to set all this up.

[@BlindNostalgia]

This video was really well done, hope to see you put out more. Your editing is really good and interesting to watch, only suggestion I have is maybe a bit better on audio mixing, the music would play over you sometimes.

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you! The audio editing portion was probably the most annoying editing part for me. I've been working on some stuff lately but it's been going slow. I have no idea when I can get it out.

[@BlindNostalgia]

@@TheGoIdCat I feel that, audio can be a real pain in the butt. No rush quality over quantity ya know. It takes me ages to post anything too.

[@dissonanceparadiddle]

There's a program that smooths out your motion data that might help give you even more of a good track.

[@TheGoIdCat]

What program is it? Might try it out.

[@urbnctrl]

Have you looked at the dual Kinect setup? It makes LEAPS in improvement and allows 360 degree mocap too - I would say it can easily compete with Vive or Rokoko tracking suits/pucks.

[@TheGoIdCat]

I did look into it, but I never did anything in terms of 360° tracking because of my budget. That sounds like a pretty neat project though!

[@isaacm080]

only 100 subs for this content! u deserve more

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you! That means a lot.

[@mothmons2118]

Yeah, 105 subs

[@joeatron3222]

and my friends called me crazy when I suggested this very idea, now I can prove that I have a basis to stand on

[@TheGoIdCat]

Yeah! It's super fun as well of you can get it to work reliably!

[@mileskrauss7124]

Awesome video man

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thanks!

[@mothmons2118]

Awesome video too

[@bbaaddllyy]

very reminiscent of ThrillSeekers youtube vids i love it

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you!

[@WxddlesHimself]

really well made video

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you!

[@thatautogarage3644]

Should've just spent the money on driver4vr, works much better without all the frustration. Also you'll notice that your kinect skeleton was looking kind of jank when calibrating, make sure it's not elevated too high and also too much light can cause this. I'm 6'4" and have mine positioned roughly 5'5'' from the ground and approximately 4-6 feet way when using it.

[@TheGoIdCat]

I positioned the kinect sensor as best as I could in the space that I had. It was also hard to find a good spot that was close to an outlet that decided to work. Most of the issues I was having were kinect related and not Amethyst related.

[@C0MMAND3R_ZER0]

The Xbox 360 Kinect is surprisingly better for motion tracking.

[@TheGoIdCat]

Yeah, the reason why I got the Xbox One Kinect was because my friend had it, he gave it to me for a good price. Plus, I also wanted the Xbox One version because of the better 1080p camera.

[@C0MMAND3R_ZER0]

Understandable.

[@nezarecs]

I recommend using the 360 Kinect as it works way better

[@TheGoIdCat]

I actually got one a few weeks ago, still considering if I want to make a video on it or not

[@nezarecs]

@@TheGoIdCati think you should I also have a question when I want to come of vr with tracking enabled is there a way i can save the already calibrated trackers so I don't have to constantly make new trackers

[@TheGoIdCat]

@nezarecs I don't think you can, at least not worth Amethyst. Although I haven't used the program in a little bit so there might be an option there now!

[@richardmendaz1305]

You can use 2 (or 3, 4, 5...) kinects at the same time to improve more accuracy Lol

[@TheGoIdCat]

That's neat! At the time I don't think the software supported that I don't think

[@boomcrafter.]

This is relly good contend keep it up

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you!

[@yolopolotyur]

the og kinect is easier to mod on I believe so

[@TheGoIdCat]

Yes! While I was doing research I did see stuff saying the original was easier to connect. My friend sold me the v2 version though, that's why I have it.

[@yolopolotyur]

@@TheGoIdCat ahh I saw that the og kinect with the power supply sells for around 9 dollars in the uk equivalent of gamestop and it has some attachments you can use such as longer range or wide lens

[@EERIE_OREO]

I was thinking about doing this with my vr headset but idk if the kinect was really worth it, because I lost the stupid bluetooth adapter thing for my vive trackers and playing some game like b&s feel incomplete without the fullbody

[@TheGoIdCat]

It has its downsides for sure, but it has been a while since I posted the video, and the tracking quality has improved a ton. Are you able to replace just the Bluetooth adapters for your vive trackers?

[@EERIE_OREO]

@@TheGoIdCat I haven't but I was wondering recently if I can find an application that can connect them without the adapter because they do connect as a controller but not as a tracker

[@TheGoIdCat]

I don't know for sure but Amethyst might work for that, they've gone more of an all in one body tracking application with it and you might be able to assign a controller as a body tracker

[@ishilee2456]

I tried using it to date and I can't get it to work any clue how to fix everything connects except the very check in the kinect v2 configuration verifier. The verify kinect depth and color stream is a big red x

[@TheGoIdCat]

It might be your adapter not supplying enough power to the kinect, maybe try a different wall outlet?

[@ishilee2456]

@TheGoIdCat I tried that and still nothing it turn off and on and still red x

[@TheGoIdCat]

@ishilee2456 That was one of the issuers I constantly had, it's like it has a mind of its own. The best thing you can do is making sure it's plugged into a USB 3.1 port and it has its own wall outlet connection, try not to plug it into a power strip

[@barry_04]

I try it with my in my new room i have a old xbox one camera i hope it works

[@ElMatero6]

Would it be possible to take data from amethyst and get live mocap data in blender for motion tracking

[@TheGoIdCat]

As Akaya said on discord, it would probably be better to use an external software. I have seen some people use the default Kinect Studio as a way of connecting the two, but I don't know exactly how they did it. There is a plugin on GitHub made for Blender and the Kinect here: github.com/moraell/KinectMocap4Blender

[@lilian2016]

Do you have any recommandation on how to set it up correctly in room? I've had a issue where feet or leg was shaking, a foot was little bit higher than the other one, do you know at what height I need to put kinect and maybe the degree ?

[@TheGoIdCat]

The feet issue was one of the ones I had during the setup process. Basically, because of the way that the camera senses depth, it can't accurately track the feet and what position they are in, that's why they are shaky. The best way I found around this is to just set the feet position to Leg Bases Orientation in either K2VRs settings, or Amethysts settings. The feet being out of place though would be a calibration issue based on my experience. Definitely set the Kinect as far back as you can, and dont put it on the ground. I know that the Kinect One sensor has a mounting screw on the bottom of it so you can connect a Tri-Pod if you need to. While it's calibrating, and it tells you to move, make sure to move forward and backward as well. I made this mistake plenty of times while only moving side to side. Also, make sure the thing has plenty of power and is plugged into the right USB port (It needs to be USB 3.0 at least). It takes a crazy amount of power, and if it doesn't get enough, it starts to get glitchy. While I was testing, Amethyst seemed to have the best calibration and tracking, so if you aren't using that I would switch to it. More info about your problems can be found here (K2VRs website seems to have a lot of information on the topic): docs.k2vr.tech/en/one/common-issues/ Thanks for reaching out, hopefully something in this huge reply helped!

[@lilian2016]

@@TheGoIdCat thank you for your detailed answer, i'll try to put everything you said in place and see if it works better, have a good day 😉

[@ejiwjssjeuuwi2691]

Do you know how to connect the xbox 360 sensor to an xbox emulator to play kinect games and so on. Please help I alrdy bought the adapter for the kinect and it works but how do I get it in games?

[@TheGoIdCat]

That's kind of beyond my understanding of the kinect, there might be a program out there that allows you to use it as an input but I don't know a name off the top of my head

[@ejiwjssjeuuwi2691]

@@TheGoIdCat Ty for responding, i'll look into it

[@glogictechsummers3045]

Also there are less people making tech and more people buying tech.

[@TheGoIdCat]

True

[@mainten833]

Very good :))))

[@incubatsu4355]

i have this set up all done, but whenever i connect my Kinect to my pc, it keeps saying usb not reconized. Is there anything I can do to fix that or is that just an issue with my pc its self?

[@TheGoIdCat]

I had the same problem, make sure the Kinect has plenty of power by plugging it into its own power socket. Another thing, make sure its plugged into a USB 3.0 port directly on the pc, not on an extender or anything like that. I hope that helps!

[@urbnctrl]

Usb 3 0 port

[@sirtechalot4060]

As K2VR documentation for issues with Kinect V2 says. Renesas USB 3.0 seems to be the only supported 3.0 port. All other compatible ports are Intel, AMD, ASMedia 3.1 or higher.

[@fred_omlet]

Do i need the headset for this? Im on an xbox.

[@TheGoIdCat]

Unfortunately you can't do this on an Xbox, that's one of the main reasons why I got an adapter to plug it into my computer. If you have it plugged into a computer: You can do motion tracking (Without the need of a VR headset) All depth cameras still work even without a headset. But if you want to do stuff such as at the time code of 2:21, you will need a VR headset, because that's in a game called VRchat.

[@fred_omlet]

@@TheGoIdCat Can I do it on a laptop tho? I don't own a pc.

[@TheGoIdCat]

Yep! As long as it's powerful enough, you should be good.

[@fred_omlet]

@@TheGoIdCat Thank ya

[@albertnicklaus9327]

Bro what

[@TheGoIdCat]

Aha, yeah

[@mothmons2118]

What bro

[@jjoltt4586]

shat oop!!!!

[@WallaWaller]

"If you have the money for it" Let's be honest, if you've got the money for the far more expensive solutions you've got more than enough for this. Two kinect v1's is about $70 on ebay while other solutions with similar quality to 2 kinect v1's working in tandem is closer to about $700

[@TheGoIdCat]

True, but there's also other solutions out there such as slime vr

[@WallaWaller]

@@TheGoIdCat Slime vr starts at double the price of 2 kinects, so with 4 you could achieve likely equal or greater results for the same price without having to strap trackers to yourself. I'd argue not needing to attach a bunch of hardware to yourself is better because it's less hassle once it's all set up.

[@TheGoIdCat]

@WallaWaller you have a good point!

[@worldwrestlingstuff5122]

I want an autograph

[@genesisamv9284]

i heard in vr chat works with delay, is that right?

[@TheGoIdCat]

The delay is very minimal, but it's enough to notice

[@genesisamv9284]

@@TheGoIdCat oh so sad

[@rfr3fr3fr3fr3f]

1:24 bros blind, the reviews clearly said it broke their xbox and the cable, not computer

[@TheGoIdCat]

That's crazy

[@big-balls]

Ironic how the kinect can't connect properly

[@TheGoIdCat]

Yes it is lol

[@DeathStar856]

Grade A, B roll for a smaller channel

[@TheGoIdCat]

Thank you! :D

[@glogictechsummers3045]

What can you say not everybody is born with the IQ

[@GhostHighLights]

So what do you do when yhe kinect recognizes two skeletons 👻😂

[@TheGoIdCat]

That means there's a ghost in your room, you should run

[@edgardogemina5699]

Have hand tracking? Or finger track?

[@TheGoIdCat]

Amethyst on it's own doesn't have finger tracking, the Kinect Studio SDK that is required for the device to work on a windows computer seemingly does though. So you might be able to extract some of the tracking data from that.

[@UkiyoIkou]

could you use this paired with the body trackers for really precise tracking?

[@TheGoIdCat]

Steam VR still allows you to connect external devices while Amethyst is running, so I would assume so. I don't have any physical trackers to test that hypothesis though.

[@UkiyoIkou]

@@TheGoIdCat thanks for the quick reply. Good stuff!